Why Did the Supreme Court Cite Colonel Sofiya Qureshi Long Before Operation Sindoor?

New Delhi: Colonel Sofia Qureshi, a senior officer from the Indian Army's Corps of Signals, was one of the key defence officials who briefed the media on Wednesday following India's cross-border strikes under Operation Sindoor.

She appeared alongside Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Force and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri during the official press conference held by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Colonel Qureshi’s name was cited in the Supreme Court's landmark 2020 judgment that allowed the grant of Permanent Commission (PC) to women officers in the Army. The court had specifically mentioned her service record while ruling that the exclusion of women from command roles was unjustified.

The judgment highlighted her as the first woman officer to lead an Indian Army contingent at a multinational military exercise—Exercise Force 18—in 2016, hosted in India for ASEAN nations.

READ MORE: Meet Colonel Sophia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh Who Led Operation Sindoor Briefing | Republic World

Colonel Qureshi, who joined the Army after completing her postgraduate degree in biochemistry, was also deployed as a United Nations military observer in Congo in 2006 and participated in flood relief operations in Northeast India.

On Wednesday, she represented the Army as India announced that it had carried out precision strikes on terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.